Scarlet Memories
by ChasingVisions
Summary: A strange, black kit slick with her own blood was discovered in the forest of WindClan, when Firestar is but a legend told to kits. Her most startling feature: the crimson colour of her eyes. Crimsonkit grows up surrounded by mockery and prejudice as she desperately tries to unravel the mystery of her abandonment. What she discovers could affect not only her, but also her clan.
1. Prologue

**Bear with me, please. This is my first attempt at a fanfic, and I started it a long time ago, so the writing will vary from where I've edited it, to where I've left it alone.**

Prologue

There was so much pain. Agony ripped my body apart in great rifts and tears down my face, stomach chest, legs. Anywhere with flesh, skin, or bone. I mewled pitifully, too young and powerless to save myself, or to even know what was happening. Betrayal sang through me, denial weaving a harmony. This wasn't right. My eyes were shut tightly shut, but behind those lids, I was suddenly blinded by the abrupt appearance of a tall and noble cat. He seemed to be weaved from starlight, a glittering collection of stars thrust together.

He blinked kindly at me, and bent down to nuzzle me. "It is not your time to join us yet, young one." he said calmly. He studied me intently for a moment before nodding. "You will be found." He touched me again with his nose, and my pain dwindled to a throbbing ache.

"All will be well, sleep on in the living world." he said, before turning tail and disappearing. I yowled once, a pain filled yowl that reflected the marrow burning distress within me. That was all I knew before I blacked out.


	2. Chapter 1

"All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather at the Highcrest for a meeting!" Lilacpaw heard the familiar summonings ring into the air with frightening intensity. She raised her head and stood up, stretching quickly, sharp claws piercing the forest floor, before racing out of the apprentice den to join Heronpaw at the edge of the cluster of WindClan cats.

"Hey, Lilacpaw," the young medicine apprentice greeted Lilacpaw worriedly. "Something's wrong- Just look at Dawnstar's eyes," she whispered, gesturing to their young leader with a flick of her tail. Lilacpaw followed her instructions, but she had never been as perceptive as Heronpaw, and Dawnstar didn't seem all that different to her. She seemed as calm, organized, and collected as usual.

"Thank you, Highwave." she murmured to her deputy beside her, a large, black cat with strangely deep blue eyes.. The leader lowered her voice further, so no one could hear her, and continued her conversation. Lilacpaw flicked her ear curiously. but otherwise managed to sit still.

The young leader looked at her Clan boldly. "We have found a young and dying kit in our sliver of forest." she announced, hurrying on quickly before the shocked silence could recover itself.

"She has no Clan scent. In fact, we could smell nothing over the smell of blood." she continued calmly, though an edge of horror was allowed to creep into her voice.

Our medicine cat, Poppyeye, pushed his way to the front, Heronpaw hot on his heels. "Then what's the holdup? Let me see her immediately," he demanded firmly. Dawnstar hesitated, but nodded.

"Of course. Rosethorn!"

Rosethorn padded into the camp, holding a bundle of fur gingerly in her teeth. It was a very young kit, not even old enough to open her eyes. Lilacpaw thought she was black, but it was hard to tell, as matted and bathed she was in blood. Terror lit up in Poppyeye's expression, mirrored in those of his apprentice.

"Bring her to me! Now!" he hissed, streaking into his den. A similar emotion unfurled in Lilacpaw's stomach, but despite her revulsion, she couldn't look away.

She hissed in rebuke. Who would do such a thing to one so young and innocent? It was unthinkable. Even from distance from which she now watched, she could gauge that the wounds were severe, seemingly fatal, even if they were immediately treated. Lilacpaw could hear gasps emitting from the cats surrounding her as they came to the same conclusion that she had. Some were murmuring to each other, voices coloured with expression from anger to sadness to anxiety.

Dawnstar gave Rosethorn a nod of consent, and the warrior trotted into the medicine cat den, a clearly worried and dazed Heronpaw hot on her heals, eyeing the kit with a detached intensity. I crept in behind them, openly curious.

"Heronpaw, get me spiderwebs and poppy seeds- wait, what? What do you mean we're out of poppy seeds?!" Poppyeye rushed around the den, rambling, nosing the kit and keeping Heronpaw busy.

Poppyeye spotted Lilacpaw hovering awkwardly amidst the anxious frenzy, and he nodded briefly. "Ah, perfect. Lilacpaw, go find some more poppy seeds, as many as you can find."

Lilacpaw nodded and turned away to do exactly that, still able to hear him telling Heronpaw to apply dock leaves and marigold.

Lilacpaw wasted no time, dashing out of camp and stretching her long limbs to full speed, letting the easy pattern and balance of her extending and recoiling muscles take over. Knowing where they grew from the many times she'd helped Heronpaw, the apprentice quickly gathered as many as I could possibly carry, before bolting back to camp, her long legs carrying her swiftly over the open moorland. Lilacpaw knew that kit didn't have long to live. Despite Poppyeye and Heronpaw's skill and talent, a couple of poppy seeds wouldn't do the trick. Regardless, Lilacpaw did her best.

She definitely had strong feelings towards this strange, orphaned kit. She would be important some day, but for good or bad, Lilacpaw couldn't yet discern.

She rushed into the medicine den with a great rush of wind skidding to an unceremonious halt. "I got them," she said, her speech warped by the mouthful.

Poppyeye nodded, distracted by the salve he was applying. "Of course, thank you. Can you get her to eat six of them?" He asked distantly, squinting at a particularly deep wound on the small kit's ribs. Lilacpaw looked at the kit, disgusted by the condition the youngster was in; she was a mess of blood, caked onto her small body. Her black fur was tangled in every direction. It was terrifying that anyone would do such a thing.

Cringing against the expectancy of the metallic taste of blood, Lilacpaw nodded and obediently crouched in front of the kit's tiny head. "Where's Heronpaw?" She asked as she counted out six of the small black balls.

"I told her to get some fresh kill for herself and the elders," Poppyeye explained simply. Lilacpaw nodded and stored the remaining seeds in a shallow cubby in the ground and returned to the kit. She licked her throat gently, gently coaxing open her mouth. "Come on, little one." She murmured encouragingly. The taste of old blood was heavy on her tongue, and she fought the urge to be sick.

The kit let out a rusty, helpless mew and opened her mouth slightly. "There you go." Lilacpas cooed, letting a hint of a smile creep onto her lips. She helped the kit swallow all six of the seeds, before sitting back. "Good."

The kit, whose eyes had been sealed tightly shut this entire time, began to struggle. Her body convulsed and twisted. "Oh no. Poppyeye, she's freaking out! How do I get her to calm down? She'll hurt hers-"

Suddenly, her eyelids snapped open, and she stared into my eyes. Eyes filled with pain and knowledge and experiences that no kit should ever have. But that wasn't what filled Lilacpaw's being with horror for more than the kit's wellbeing.

This kit, the helpless, innocent scrap of fur's eyes, were blood red.

**Okay, so I ****_did_**** transfer this from first to third person, and I may have missed some stuff. Sorry about that... I'll be editing!**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter #2- The kit

The kit's eyes struggled open for the first time, determined to see her surroundings now that she was not blinded by pain. She found herself looking into the eyes of a long-limbed grey and white cat with light blue eyes. Even as the kit took in the she- cat's appearance, horror clouded her face and she scrambled away from the one she had just been helping. She was confused. Why was the cat scared?

"H-her eyes! They- they- they-" the pretty cat stuttered, looking everywhere but at the kit. The kit sat, bewildered by this behaviour. What was wrong with her eyes? They seemed to work fine. The kit blinked them a couple times, as if to prove this. A black and white cat appeared out of a small den, approaching the blue-eyed she-cat.

"What's wrong with her eyes?" he asked gently, cocking his head.

"Look." the she-cat whispered, horror still present in her wide eyes.

Puzzled, the cat padded softly over to the kit and looked at her eyes. She looked at him anxiously, hoping for an explanation. Surprise and mild revulsion flickered through his expression, gone too quickly for her to catch. "They're red." he said simply, standing.

"Lilacpaw, stop gaping like a fish out of water and tell Dawnstar that the kit has awoken. Perhaps she will be able to tell us how exactly the kit was found," Poppyeye snapped, piercing her pointedly with his yellow-black eyes.

The pretty cat the kit assumed to be Lilacpaw nodded and jumped to her paws. She cast one last inquisitive glance towards the object of her shock before loping out of the den.

"Why is she acting so funny?" The kit asked in a low, raspy voice.

"Your eyes are an unusual colour; it surprised her. It's not your fault." Poppyeye explained in a soothing tone, crouching to lick her forehead. The young kit frowned, struggling to understand this.

"Ok," she said slowly. She began to push herelf into a sitting position, the drying blood in her fur uncomfortably tight.

"No, no! You must rest!" Poppyeye insisted, rushing over to lower her back down.

"But I feel fine!" The kit insisted. Not giving in to his gentle shove, she stood up, hardly a trace of the pain that had racked her body remaining. She bounded over to the entrance of the den, wanting to poke her head out and see the outside world. Before she could do so much, however, she felt a pair of teeth fix firmly on the scruff of her neck.

"You only just got here! And you were dying. There is no way you are strong enough to leave," Poppyeye muttered, more to himself then his patient, sounding both disbelieving and amazed. He set her down gently, snuffing through her bloody fur. He jerked back in badly contained surprise. "You- You're practically all healed!" he stuttered, confusion masking his features. The kit frowned, trying to think about it.

"Is that bad? It hurt a lot, and now it doesn't," she said, cocking her head. Poppyeye looked at her, startled by her demeanor.

"It's good that you're healed," he said slowly, "But I don't know how it happened so fast." His explanation had her brows furrowed as she took this in.

"Oh," was all she could muster. She didn't know it was supposed to take longer to rid oneself of such pain. She was simply glad that it had.

Just then, Lilacpaw trotted in with another cat that was close in size to her, whose pelt was a deep, dusty grey, and another, larger she-cat who was coloured light red, and appeared quite strong and lean.

"Dawnstar," Poppyeye said, nodding his head respectfully towards the red cat. "Heronpaw." he continued, addressing the grey cat with a fond glint in his eyes.

The kit looked at them both with wide, unblinking eyes. "Hi," she said shyly, but sat boldly, lifting her chin to meet the cats' eyes. Dawnstar and Heronpaw simultaneously gasped in surprise. Heronpaw took an involuntary step back, but Dawnstar was able to better uphold her composure.

"Hello," she said, an odd edge to her voice that the kit did not understand, but frightened her all the same. She suddenly dropped her audacious gaze to look at the ground, shuffling her paws.

Dawnstar turned towards Poppyeye. "How is she so strong already?" she asked, shooting me a worried glance.

Poppyeye merely shook his head. "I do not know. I suppose we can assume it's the will of StarClan, though," he said blandly. "There is simply no way, she was so close to death."

Dawnstar nodded. "And … Do we know why her eyes are that particular colour?" she asked, lowering her voice.

Poppyeye shrugged helplessly. "All I can say is that it is her natural eye colour," he said simply.

Dawnstar bobbed her head again and turned around. "Join me in my den, Poppyeye. We must discuss today's happenings," she ordered, and moved off through the low hanging moss that covered the entrance way.

Poppyeye looked at Lilacpaw and Heronpaw. "You two look after this little one. She is nothing more to be afraid of then the next kit," he told them sternly, waiting for them to nod their consent before following Dawnstar.

Lilacpaw was still regarding me warily, but Heronpaw padded up to the kit and licked the top of her head. "How are you, little one? Do you have a name?" she asked kindly, trying to lower her line of sight to look the kit in the eye.

Relief at the young cat's kindness flooded through the nameless kit, and she visibly relaxed, letting a low purr escape her hoarse throat.. "I don't know if I have a name. I don't remember anything," the kit said timidly with a shrug of her shoulders, once again raising her head to make eye-contact.

Heronpaw nodded, a small smile curved on her lips. "Dawnstar will give you a name," she told me, crouching down.

"Are you hungry?" Lilacpaw piped up from the background, looking more at ease then she had earlier.

The kit hesitated, and then nodded, feeling her stomach tighten in protest to the malnourishment. She was famished. "Yeah," she said sheepishly.

Heronpaw frowned. "You are too young for meat. A queen will have to take you in," she told the kit, and when her scarlet eyes widened uncomprehendingly, she explained.

"Queens are the mommies of the kits," she explained. The kit blinked in slow understanding.

"And I'm a kit?" She verified. Lilacpaw and Heronpaw both nodded. The orphan smiled at this discovery, becoming bolder.

"Huh! I think my mommy wasn't very nice," she said, screwing up her face as she searched memories. All she could remember was pain and the iron scent of blood. She couldn't smell it now, although her fur was still thick with it, but the nose quickly falls asleep.

Lilacpaw and Heronpaw exchanged a glance that the kit did not quite understand.

"Maybe I should go tell Dawnstar or Poppyeye that she's hungry. "She really does need her strength after being so . . . Injured . . ." Lilacpaw trailed of quizzically. "Wait a mo- how are you not still injured? I saw you, you were in deplorable condition," she added, her voice plainly displaying her disapproval of however the kit had become how she was.

Heronpaw gave her friend a look. "Were you even listening to Dawnstar and Poppyeye's conversation? He said he thought it was StarClan; there's no other viable explanation. And good use on the word deplorable, by the way. My work on widening your vocabulary is obviously making some headway."

Lilacpaw rolled her eyes, but looked pleased with herself. "Why thank you, my liege," she said sarcastically. "Anyway. You go talk to Dawnstar about getting this kit something to eat. And naming her. It's getting annoying just calling her 'the kit'."

Heronpaw cocked her head and raised an eyebrow. "I know. How about you go tell Dawnstar while I watch the kit," she said mildly. "After all, being the medicine cat's apprentice, I am better equipped for the task."

Lilacpaw made a noise of protestation, but seemed to take the point. "Fine," she snapped. "I'll be back."

The kit watched Lilacpaw exit the den in a smart trot.

"Can I go outside?" She inquired, craning her neck to try to see through a gap in the moss. "Please?"

Heronpaw shook her head firmly. "No. I'm sorry, but you're still too young and weak without a queen to watch you. I may have experience and a knack for herbs, but I'm no mother." She smiled softly. "But you need a bath badly. How can you stand being covered in blood like that?"

The kit blinked uncomprehendingly. "Why shouldn't I be able to?" She asked childishly. Heronpaw looked both amused and sad at this.

"Well, you'll be much more comfortable once you're cleansed of blood."


End file.
